We’re really speeding towards the end of the year now. But, the new music hasn’t stopped coming, and once again we’ve updated our Discovery playlist with some of the best new music from across Australia and the world. We’ve got another ten tracks for you this week, including two we had premieres for earlier in the week. Leading the way, though is Candice Lorrae with her new single, “Paperbark and Lillies”, our Track of the Week.
“Paperbark and Lillies” is the title track and lead single from Lorrae’s much anticipated debut solo album (out March 2027). The track is a gorgeous indie-folk reimagining of a poem by the same name from respected Kungarakan, Gurindji, and Mudburra Elder, poet and Indigenous rights activist, the late Kathy Mills. It tells the story of Lorrae’s great-great-grandmother Dolly Bonson, known as Bett-Bett. Unsurprisingly then, “Paperbark and Lillies”, becomes quite an intimate listening experience as Lorrae reclaims what is obviously a deeply personal family story. A far cry from the electronic-pop of Lorrae’s earlier work in The Merindas, “Paperbark and Lillies” embraces an indie folk aesthetic, blending warm guitars, dreamy textures, and evocative songcraft to great effect.
It’s great to have Georgia Mooney back. She’s a much-loved artist here at the AU, and “Australian Crawl” is the first taste of her forthcoming album Private Theatre. Mooney has a gift for sharing tragedy and triumph in equal measure, with more than a flourish, and this is a bittersweet, driving song about telling someone you love them, knowing it won’t come back to you. In her hands, that kind of rejection becomes something closer to courage: “Still it felt good to say it… touch the ocean floor.”
Melbourne duo Armlock have announced their third album, Amazing, due February 5 via Radius, and “Lifer” is its opener. The musicianship and production here are fabulous. The track has a hazy, intimate lo-fi feel, a pulsing guitar line and lovely harmonies wrapped around the hook, “I can only do it for you”. It’s a simple song about committing to your person, and it gently gets under your skin. Before they head to the US in February, Simon Lam and Hamish Mitchell close out the year supporting Spacey Jane, including a show at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.
Sydney’s Middle Kids return this week with “big freak”, the fist release since their global signing with Australian independent label Mushroom Music. Produced by band-member Tim Fitz, “big freak” explores the minefield that is adolescent and adult awkwardness; about feeling like you’re a big weirdo inside, and it’s only a matter of time until everyone else finds out. It’s everything you want from a Middle Kids track – emotionally charged, lyrically astute, deeply satisfying guitar led indie rock. If this is the start of the next era of Middle Kids, we’re very much here for it.
Sydney singer-songwriter Giselle Kwong is very much on the rise, and “Lifeline” is a cracking tune: a biting anthem of self-reclamation, produced by Fletcher Matthews (The Buoys, Adam Newling, CLEWS). It’s beautifully direct. Giselle gets right to the nub of what matters, turning the hurt of being someone’s last resort into a chorus built to be shouted from the rooftops: “I’m not your lifeline!” This one will resonate. It’s the second single from her debut EP, due early in 2027.
A 36-date world tour, across the US, Canada, UK and Europe, will do something to a band. Apparently, for “the people’s band” Playlunch that long on the road is enough to launch you into your boyband era – or as they’re describing it, their boyfunk era, heralded by their new single “3310”. Named for the iconic (and indestructible) Nokia phone, “3310” sees the band lock in on that 90s R&B sound and really double down on it all. It’s a lot of fun, but as with everything Playlunch put out, it’s also incredibly clever and well realised, as both pastiche and satire. The 7-piece fall so easily and successful into the 90’s boyband groove, it begs the question: is there a genre these lads can’t make their own?
Also added to the playlist this we have “Jaguar”, the slow-burning new single from Bristol rock artist Oswald Slain. Recorded with Stew Jackson (Massive Attack), the gritty atmospheric single is the first taste of Slain’s second studio album which is due next year. Alongside him on the playlist is Naarm-based artist Sour Worm, with their hypnotic new single “What Have You Been Put Here For?”, one of two tracks they’ve released this week in the build up to the release of their new album Fly on December 4th. Finally, we’ve also added premieres from Jovi Skyler (“Edie Sedgwick”) and LUCIDBLOOM (“Coexist”).
Catch all the new music updated every Friday on Apple Music:
and on Spotify:
Here’s the complete list of new additions this week:
Candice Lorrae “Paperbark and Lilies”
Georgia Mooney “Australian Crawl”
Armlock “Lifer”
Middle Kids “big freak”
Oswald Slain “Jaguar”
Giselle Kwong “Lifeline”
Playlunch “3310”
Sour Worm “What Have You Been Put Here For?”
Jovi Skyler “Edie Sedgwick” [Exclusive Video Premiere]
LUCIDBLOOM “Coexist” [Exclusive EP Premiere]
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